Amanda Rodriguez
Slience
I walk around with
Feathers in my mouth.
I must speak like
Pillows and
Down comforters
Because I am
A woman.
Inside
My throat
There is a hard,
Metal key that I’ve
Locked between
My teeth.
I am a conductor,
Alive wire.
What comes out of me,
What flows through me
Could scorch and kill
Or shock back to life.
It is tempting, though,
It is easy, though,
To swallow
This key of
Chaos, of
Truth,
There it will burn blinding
For an instant,
An aborted
Big Bang
Inside
My silence.
Amanda Rodriguez is a a queer, first generation Cuban-American and an environmental activist living in Weaverville, NC. Amanda holds an MFA from Queens University in Charlotte, NC. Amanda’s short fiction, flash fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry can be found in Germ Magazine, Pine Mountain Sand & Gravel, Mud Season Review, Thoughtful Dog, Rigorous, Stoneboat Literary Journal, Cold Creek Review, Change Seven, The Acentos Review, Label Me Latina/o, Lou Lit Review, Scalawag (upcoming), and NILVX (upcoming).
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